Upholstery supports

ABSTRACT

The invention is concerned with upholstery supports such as webbing straps or platformlike supports; more particularly with the provision of providing improved attachment locations in such supports. The upholstery support according to the invention is moulded from suitable material such as rubber and incorporates attachment locations each being in the form of a thickened portion having one or more holes to accommodate part of an attachment means such as a hook, and these being a recess in the thickened portion in the region of the hole or holes in which part of the attachment means will lie so that, in use, loading on the support is distributed across a substantial part of the thickened portion. The invention is also directed to a method of producing such a support by a moulding technique in an appropriately formed mould.

[54] UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl. 160/382 [51] Int. Cl A47h 3/00 [50] Field of Search 160/DlG.

United States Patent 3,630,265

I [72] Inventor Raymond Blggs 3,425,067 2/1969 Frig et al 5/186 Middleton Junctlon, Manchester, England 3,462,195 8/1969 Allen 297/452 [21] Appl. No' 854,383 FOREIGN PATENTS 23 322 1 1,294,152 4/1962 France 24/2653 845, 16 8 O Assign vimoam ummd 5 H96 Great Bntam 160/383 [32] Priority Jan. 1, 1969 Primary Examiner- Peter M. Caun [33] Great Britain Attorney-James E. Nilles ABSTRACT: The invention is concerned with upholstery supports such as webbing straps or platformlike supports; more particularly with the provision of providing improved attachment locations in such supports. The upholstery support according to the invention is moulded from suitable material such as rubber and incorporates attachment locations each being in the form of a thickened portion having one or more holes to accommodate part of an attachment means such as a hook, and these being a recess in the thickened portion in the region of the hole or holes in which part of the attachment means will lie so that, in use, loading on the support is distributed across a substantial part of the thickened portion. The invention is also directed to a method of producing such a support by a moulding technique in an appropriately formed mould.

PATENTEU M82819?! SHEET 1 [IF 2 INVENTOR:

UPI'IOLS'IERY SUPPORTS This invention concerns upholstery supports.

It is known to support upholstery pads on webbing straps made from rubber, textile material'or a combination of these materials; it is also known to use springs and, more recently, platformlike supports made from rubber or other resilient material.

One of the problems associated with the use of rubber webbing or platform supports lies in providing attachment locations which will remain serviceable for the expected life of the support and many different solutions to this' problem have been used or proposed for use. One successful manner of providing attachment locations consists of embedding a'rod or clip in the rubber support during its production and then attaching a suitable hook or the like to the rod or clipby means of which the support can be suspended in a carrying frame. While this method of providing the requisite attachments is extremely useful and practical it can, if carelessly practiced, result in a substantial wastage of material and damage to moulds by virtue of incorrect location of the rod'or clip. It is also to be borne in mind that to utilize mouldst'o their best advantage process time should be reduced to minimum and clearly if a moulding time of say one minute is possible having regard to the rubber compound used, a great deal of time is lost if it takes say two or three minutes to load the mould with rods or clips and the requisite amount of uncured rubber compound. v

The object of the present invention therefore is to provide an upholstery support which can be produced in a simple and effective manner and will meet the requirements of users of such supports at least as efficiently as previously known supports.

According to the present invention there is provided an upholstery support moulded from a material'whichwill flow when subjected to heat and-pressure and willbe resilient when cool, said support having, at each of the locations in which an attachment is to be secured, a thickened portion having at least one hole therein, there being a recess in the thickened portion in the region of the hole or holes adapted removably to receive part of an attachment means, said part of the attachment being so dimensionedas to distribute loading'on the support across a substantial part of the thickened portion of said support.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view from above of part of one form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I from below;

FIG. 3 is an underneath plan view of part of a modification;

FIG. 4 is a part sectional, perspective view of part of a mould used to produce the article shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one form of attachment means.

In the following description, initial reference will be made to a webbing strip but it should be appreciated that the invention can be utilized in upholstery supports of all kinds, for example the platform typein which a single sheet of material is held in a framework by means of a plurality of spaced apart attachments located'aroundthe periphery of the platform.

To produce an upholstery webbing from a rubber compound a moulding technique is usedin which a predetermined amount of rubber compound is located in a mould and subjected to heat and pressure to cause it to flow to fill the mould and also to become vulcanized.

In contradistinction to the normal moulds comprising a lid and a base the mould used to produce the article needs no lid and thus comprises a base only. In the base 10 of the mould there is provided a series of depressions ll separated by narrow ribs I2. Each depression 11 defines the width of a webbing strap l3'to be moulded. At each end of each depression is provided a groove 14 which effectively increases the depth of the end regions of the depression I]. In the base of each groove 14 is provided a rib 15 at each end of which is an upstanding peg 16 whose free end terminates substantially at the level of the upper edge I7 of the mould base 10. To mould a plurality of webs a single piece of uncured rubber compound of the requisite size (which is smaller than the area of the mould itself) is placed in the mould and the latter is located in a press. The mould is subjected to heat while it is under pressure applied by the press platen, and the rubber compound flowscompletely' to fill the mould and also to become vulcanized. At the termination of the moulding time the mould is removed from the press and the lid is opened, and the strips 13 of moulded rubber are removed. These strips 13 each constitute a web and each has in each end region a thickened portion 18 which gives the requisite strength to the ends of the web. In each thickened-upportion there are two spaced-apart holes 19 and a groove 20. The article so produced has plain, flat faces.

To use the webs l3 hooks as shown in FIG. 5 are inserted through the holes and they are then capable of being attached to corresponding holes for example in a tubular frame. The hooks are all identical and each one consists of a piece of wire which is bent initially into U-shape, the base 21 of the U being similar in length to the length of the groove 20 in the web 13. The base region 21 of the U is then bent substantially at right angles to the two arms 22 of the U and the bending is such that the portion 23 of the wire which lies substantially at right angles to the base 21 of the U is approximately equal to the thickness of the thickened portion 18 of the web 13. The free ends 24 of each arm 22 which also bend to lie at an angle to the remaining portion of the arms 23 can be directed towards the base 21 of the U. The free ends 24 of the U are inserted through holes 19 in the web 13 from that face of the thickened portion which contains the groove 20, and the wire is moved into position such that the hook ends 24 extend from the plane of one face of the web 13 to a position adjacent the plane of the thickened region of the web. The base 21 of the U is contained within the groove 20in the thickened portion 18 of the web 13.

The invention'is not restricted to the above details. For example hook forms other than that described can be used providing that they have at the end remote from the hook a base which can engage over a substantial portion of the thickened portion 18 of the web to distribute across the web any load which is applied to it. It is also possible to produce sheetlike platforms as shown in FIG. 3' by moulding to provide tongues 25 having thickened regions 26 atsuitable spaced intervals around the periphery. Each thickened region 26 is pro vided with holes 27 and a groove 28 adapted to receive a hook whereby the platform can be attached to a rigid framework.

In a modification a centrally disposed hole may be provided in the thickened region and in this case a groove extending across substantially the whole width of the thickened region is provided. In this case an attachment hook of -T-shape is provided, the hook end being formed at the end of the leg of the T.

If a patterned face is required, the press platen can be formed with the requisite pattern or there may be provided a patterned insert to be located between the platen and the mould.

Iclaim:

I. An upholstery support for receiving attachment means; said support moulded from a material which will flow when subjected to heat and pressure and will be resilient when cool, said support having, a thickened portion at each of the locations in which said attachment means is to be secured, said thickened portion having hole means therein, a recess in the thickened portion along one side of said support and connected to said hole means and extending laterally therefrom and intersecting the surface of said one side, and a removable attachment means for said hole means and connecting recess, said attachment means having a base lying in said recess and arm means'extending through said hole means, said base of the attachment being so dimensioned as to distribute loading on the support across. the thickened portion and in said recess.

2. An upholstery support as claimed in claim 1 in which the support is in the form of a webbing, there being a thickened portion at each end, thereof.

3. An upholstery support as claimed in claim 1 in which the support is in the form of a sheetlike platform, there being spaced-apart tongues around its periphery, and each such tongue has a said thickened portion.

* i i k 

1. An upholstery support for receiving attachment means; said support moulded from a material which will flow when subjected to heat and pressure and will be resilient when cool, said support having, a thickened portion at each of the locations in which said attachment means is to be secured, said thickened portion having hole means therein, a recess in the thickened portion along one side of said support and connected to said hole means and extending laterally therefrom and intersecting the surface of said one side, and a removable attachment means for said hole means and connecting recess, said attachment means having a base lying in said recess and arm means extending through said hole means, said base of the attachment being so dimensioned as to distribute loading on the support across the thickened portion and in said recess.
 2. An upholstery support as claimed in claim 1 in which the support is in the form of a webbing, there being a thickened portion at each end, thereof.
 3. An upholstery support as claimed in claim 1 in which the support is in the form of a sheetlike platform, there being spaced-apart tongues around its periphery, and each such tongue has a said thickened portion. 